I’m a huge fan of colour. Even though my outfits are black dominant, I’m instinctively drawn to bright hues. A splash of pink on a yellow wall, a dumpster decorated in pink and green graffiti against a white painted wall, a pastel yellow-gold sunset against a light blue sky overhead – these are just some of the colours I noticed today. A Taste of Travel and WITH A HOPE nominated me to enter Capture the Colour PhotoBlogging Travel Competition: “…publish a blog post with a photo that captures the following 5 colours – Blue, Green, Yellow, White and Red. Tell us where the photo was taken… what you could see, smell, hear, feel and perhaps a witty caption about that photo or trip in general. When you’ve finished writing your post, be sure to nominate 5 other bloggers to take part in Capture the Colour by listing their website…” Instead of going through my archives, I decided to challenge myself. My 35 mm and I, with husband in tow, braved the thunderstorms yesterday. I took 5 photos to showcase the colours of one of my favourite places in Brooklyn – DUMBO. BLUE The looming thunder clouds on a humid summer’s day provided such a contrast to both the demin blue in this street art installation, and the dirty blue of the Manhattan Bridge. DUMBO stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. This neighbourhood is one of the priciest zip codes in Manhattan. RED You’ll notice an abundance of red when you’re looking for it. At least I did. From red fire hydrants, and red backed STOP signs, to bright red traffic lights, and scribbled red graffiti. DUMBO is a former hub of industry and many of its buildings are made of brick. By the Brooklyn Bridge stands the shell of a 25,000 square foot former tobacco warehouse. It was constructed in the 1870s as a tobacco customs inspection center, saved from demolition in 1998 and, repaired and stabilized by The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation in 2002. It’s red brick frames an enviable view. YELLOWEach colour should be an element of the photograph and not dominate the whole scene. I am looking for something beyond the clichés like a red sunset, blue sky or yellow flowers. For me originality will always take precedence over a pretty photograph.” Judge, PlanetD Unlike red, yellow was a harder colour to come by. Apart from spotting a yellow flower, this advertising campaign, covering scaffolding around a construction site, caught my eye. The yellow in this part of the image series stood out. Is taking a photo of a photo considered cliché? GREEN Noticing a Vespa in Brooklyn is becoming as frequent as spotting a yellow cab in Manhattan. Well, almost! This photo may as well have been taken in Rome; the Vespa looks vintage with a bit of comic appeal stuck to its face.

WHITE

“I love photos that tell a story. I want something that could have only been taken by you, in that moment, in that way. I love it when a photo captures a place so well that even if I’ve been there before, I think to myself, wow, I have to go there.” Judge, Christine Gilbert

Well Christine, if you haven’t been to DUMBO, I highly recommend it. There’s no better spot to view Manhattan from the East River.

The end date for this contest is August 29, and hoping there’s enough time for these bloggers to turn around their submissions, I nominate:

Lazy Sunday morning; in bed, watching music videos on my Archos G9 tablet (not an Ipad). One of the most oft-repeated songs on my playlist is the Café Del Mar N O W Remix of Letting the Cables Sleep by BUSH, though today I happened upon the music video for the original version of the song and found myself rewinding & relistening… Was the band’s lead singer, Gavin Rossdale, walking down one of the railroad-tracked cobblestoned streets of DUMBO? Was that the Manhattan Bridge, at the end of one of the neighbourhood’s streets, about 15 seconds into the clip? I couldn’t confirm it while trying to research the video’s filming location on the Net (I did learn that Joel Schumacher directed the video) but it didn’t matter. It was enough to inspire me (and my husband, after some coaxing) to drive to DUMBO for an early afternoon coffee… and to take some photos of the ‘hood… again.

Manhattan Bridge in the background

Railroads and cobblestones

We’ve had coffee at the Brooklyn Roasting Company a number of times, and I’ve taken photos of DUMBO many a time too; I just never tire of doing either. Give me any excuse, and I am there ~ I can wholeheartedly say that I love visiting DUMBO. If it suited my budget, we would have moved here after relocating from the West Coast. And yet, judging by the recent real estate valuations, this just isn’t going to happen anytime soon either. This is the third most expensive neighbourhood in New York; a place where it’s pricier to look at Manhattan than to live in Manhattan.

<Property Shark runs updates on NYC’s most expensive neighborhoods and in Q3 2012 Dumbo came in 3rd place with a median sale price of $1,460,000.>

Brooklyn Roasting Company on Jay Street

Doughnut Plant donut and almond latte at Brooklyn Roasting Company

Mopeds are the new bicycle...

DUMBO stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

Every time I come here, I think of the scene in Bladerunner, when Harrison Ford’s character is having noodles in Chinatown. Now, many people may think otherwise – my husband-the-movie-aficionado included – but for me, the streets here conjure up the same feelings as those when I watch that part of the movie: mystery, darkness, cutting edge. Alot of DUMBO’s life happens under the Manhattan Bridge – it casts a shadow over the neighbourhood’s streets; the sound of the subway that rambles along it can be heard periodically overhead.

Manhattan Bridge Overpass

Life under the Bridge

In the late 1800’s, it was primarily a manufacturing district, housing warehouses and factories including Arbuckle Brothers (coffee and sugar), J.W. Masury & Son (paint), Robert Gair (paper boxes), E.W. Bliss (machinery) and Brillo (soap pads). With deindustrialization, it began becoming primarily residential, when artists and other young homesteaders seeking relatively large and inexpensive loft apartment spaces for studios and homes began moving there in the late 1970s.The acronym Dumbo arose in 1978, when new residents coined it in the belief such an unattractive name would help deter developers.*

The developers do not seem deterred at all.

Residences, businesses and a Con Edison power plant exist, side by side

New loft developments ~ living in a magazine?

Water tower as real estate advertising

The vista from the westernmost part of DUMBO, along the East River, is of downtown Manhattan; the neighbourhood is flanked by the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, yet not overrun with yuppies and fleeing Manhattanites, who still seem to be headed in the direction of Williamsburg – a place I also love (it’s where I Iive) though one that is busting with people, especially around Sunday brunch.

Brooklyn Bridge in background, Manhattan - in foreground.

JANE’S CAROUSEL:

Located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges at Empire-Fulton Ferry Park, the carousel is a ‘new’ piece of history in the industrial neighbourhood (cannot be seen in image above) ~ it was opened in September 2011 and costs $2 per ride.

The carousel was built in 1922 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, based in Hatfield Pennsylvania. It was used in Idora Park, a private amusement park in Youngston, Ohio, until the early 1980s. In 1984, Walentas, a New Jersey native, traveled to Ohio to save the carousel from being taken apart and sold off in pieces.

She and her husband purchased it for $385,000.

Todd Goings, who specializes in carousel restorations, put the carousel back together for its opening. It is a three-row machine with 48 horses and two chariots.

Two Trees Management Company, LLC, a company her husband David Walentas founded, constructed the building in which the carousel is now housed on Water and Old Dock streets in DUMBO. The construction of the building cost $8 million.

The Walentases commissioned Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Jean Nouvel, to design the building, which is essentially an encasement that allows the carousel to operate year-round. The 72×72-foot acrylic building provides framed views of the nearby bridges as well as the Manhattan skyline.**

Jane's Carousel - looking at the Manhattan Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge through the panes enclosing Jane's Carousel

DUMBO also has a thriving arts community ~ street art is intermittent yet frequently visible; a few galleries can be found here; and, St Ann’s Warehouse, a respected theatre, is located on Water Street.

Since 1980, [St. Ann’s Warehouse] has been putting on cutting-edge music, dance and puppetry productions…[Their] signature programming is just as enticing as ever… (Time Out)

Mural on Water Street

More street art on Water Street

On December 18, 2007, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate the Dumbo section of Brooklyn as the city’s 90th historic district.*

Brooklyn Bridge, seen through a window of The Tobacco Warehouse.

THE TOBACCO WAREHOUSE:

It’s hard to miss this now-roofless, 25,000 square foot warehouse, which is situated directly under the Brooklyn Bridge Overpass in close proximity to Jane’s Carousel. It was constructed in the 1870s as a tobacco customs inspection center, saved from demolition in 1998 and, repaired and stabilized by The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation in 2002.

Intersected: Brooklyn Bridge and The Tobacco Warehouse

The streets may seem deserted in parts, and many of the buildings devoid of any activity, yet the cafes, bookstores, retailers (yes, Bang&Olufsen and West Elm have set up shop here) and the parks are full of life. Maybe that’s what I like so much about it – you can be alone, yet the neighbourhood isn’t a lonely one. And now that it has been decided to repurpose the Con Edison power plant along the East River, Gavin Rossdale will be right on the money with Letting the Cables Sleep.

Years ago, my sister gave me a magnet with this quote on it, and it’s still on my fridge. Things haven’t changed much.

Anyone who has an affinity for wearing black on black on black – in different textures, of course – will be able to relate these words. Don’t get me wrong, I do like pops of colour (especially against a dark background); it’s just that black, to me, is symbolic of simplicity, effortlessness and classicism. I love it and I will never give up wearing it.

It doesn’t come as a surprise that I’m drawn to black and white photography, and I’ve been noticing it so much more these days. The varied tones of grey; the depth and strength of contrasts; the drama orchestrated by bold patterns and lines; the feelings conjured up through a perceived mood or atmosphere ~ nostalgia being the strongest.

I’ve come across a number of really inspiring black and whites, and experimented with some myself ~ I share them here, along with a few quotes. If you have any tips or thoughts on shooting in black and white, please share. Enjoy!

First day of Spring, NY, circa 1957 ~ W. Eugene Smith

First day of February: A tourist at the Guggenheim, NY, 2012 ~ Marina Chetner

… sang Frank Sinatra in the 1940’s black & white film, It Happened in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Bridge is such a beautiful song.

If someone asked you to name New York’s top three iconic landmarks, I am sure that the Brooklyn Bridge would make the cut. It’s inspired so many films, poems, stories, and life moments.

Love moments, locked on the Bridge

From this architecturally stunning structure, an open-air viewing deck grant visitors unobstructed New York views, unlike those seen from the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges. (NB: The Bridge is undergoing renovation at this time so there is scaffolding on part of the way from Brooklyn towards its centre).

Sightseers on scaffolding; uptown Manhattan and the Manhattan Bridge (background)

Scaffolding from Brooklyn side

On the Brooklyn Bridge, everyone shares the same path, which means mayhem. Although a dividing line maintains some order, it doesn’t succeed given the throngs of tourists descend on the bridge daily. Walkers brush shoulders as the stroll from Manhattan to Brooklyn, or vive versa. Cyclists ding their bike bells to caution photographers and other gawkers, who may have crossed into the bike lane. That said, it is very fun photographing the landmark.

Tripods and Manhattan vistas

As the Brooklyn Bridge is mentioned and/or featured in so many works, I thought I’d share some interesting excerpts with you.

Enjoy!

All photographs are my own – taken between December 2011 and January 2012. A few may have been retouched with the Nikon D5000.

I’ve lived most of my life in Manhattan, but as close as Brooklyn is to Manhattan, there are people who live there who have been to Manhattan maybe once or twice. ~ Ellen Burstyn

Brooklyn is very much worth the visit…

Dumbo’s lofts from Brooklyn Bridge

Good composition is like a suspension bridge – each line adds strength and takes none away.~ Robert Henri

View from Broklyn’s Fulton Park

Mortimer Brewster: All I did was cross the bridge and I was in Brooklyn. Amazing. ~Movie: Arsenic and Old Lace

View of Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge

You’re in Brooklyn

Sunrise on the bridge light splashing through the arches joggers chasing dreams

~ Haiku: Brooklyn Bridgeby Laurence Overmire

Since the bridge was completed in 1883, the idea of illegally selling it has become the ultimate example of persuasion. A good salesman could sell it, a great swindler would sell it, and the perfect sucker would fall for the scam. ~ For You, Half Price – New York Times.

A view from the East River shores of Brooklyn

“The oddity of the thing today,” said Luc Sante, author of the book, Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, “is not that there might have been con artists ready to see the bridge, but that there would have been suckers gullible enough and sufficiently well-heeled to fall for it.” ~ For You, Half Price – New York Times.

“Up to the 1920’s people were still trying,” Mr Nash said. “But it was a hard sale. Immigrants had become much more sophisticated and knowledgeable, and by that time the processors at Ellis Island were handing out cards or booklets saying, You can’t buy public buildings or streets. These shifts explain why the Brooklyn Bridge is the span associated with swindles; the city’s other bridges were built after the high tide of gullibility had already begun slipping away.” ~ For You, Half Price – New York Times.

re: the above… Is this reflection for sale?

They may call me a ‘rube’ and a ‘hick’. I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it.~ Will Rogers

Strolling from Manhattan…

In the 19th century, the bridge was one of the two best-known symbols of America, the other being the Statue of Liberty.~ Kathleen Hulser, the public historian at the New York Historical Society

Downtown Manhattan from the Bridge; Statue of Liberty – in the far off distance

Another NY icon – the yellow cab

If you’ve been a rover Journey’s end lies over the Brooklyn Bridge Don’t let no one tell you I’ve been tryin’ to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge

All the folks in Manhattan are sad ’cause they look at her and wish they had The good old Brooklyn Bridge.

Untried expedient, untried; then tried; way out; way in; romantic passageway first seen by the eye of the mind, then by the eye. O steel! O stone! Climactic ornament, a double rainbow, as if inverted by French perspicacity, John Roebling’s monument, German tenacity’s also; composite span—an actuality.

~ Poem: Granite and Steel, Marianne Moore

East River against the Arch

O harp and altar, of the fury fused, (How could mere toil align thy choiring strings!) Terrific threshold of the prophet’s pledge, Prayer of pariah, and the lover’s cry,–

Again the traffic lights that skim thy swift Unfractioned idiom, immaculate sigh of stars, Beading thy path–condense eternity: And we have seen night lifted in thine arms.

~ Poem: To BrooklynBridge, Hart Crane

Annie Hall: Do you love me?

Alvy Singer: Love is too weak a word for what I feel – I luuurve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two F’s, yes I have to invent, of course I – I do, don’t you think I do?

~ Words spoken near the Brooklyn Bridge. From the movie: Annie Hall

View of the Bridge from Dumbo

View from the Manhattan Bridge

The cables that hold up (the Brooklyn Bridge) on big stone piers are beautiful and not hidden. It’s metal in your face taking traditional material and putting it to use in a way that you can see what it can do. ~ Alan Goodheart

A collection of love locks like the ones found in Paris, Budapest, and Seoul are starting to pile up on the New York City landmark.~newyork.cbslocal.com

Whenever I think of yesterday, I close my eyes and see, That place Just Over The Brooklyn Bridge That will always be home to me. It’ll always be home to me.

It may have been built after Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge, but Manhattan Bridge is the middle child. Poised between its predecessors, it is neither as iconic as Brooklyn Bridge, nor as artsy as Williamsburg Bridge, but a lack of pretense makes it cool. Overlooking sweeping views of Manhattan and Brooklyn, it joins two of my favourite neighbourhoods: Manhattan’s Chinatown and Brooklyn’s DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).

The bridge’s lack of tourists and crowds (unlike Brooklyn Bridge) makes for a pleasurable walk from Chinatown to DUMBO, and vice versa.

The Empire State Building, framed by DUMBO.

Chinatown, clustered under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

Street vendors, setting up shop under the Bridge’s Overpass, in Chinatown

Manhattan Bridge, opened December 1909, was the last of the three suspension bridges built across the East River. Since 1982, it has undergone a Reconstruction Program at a cost of $834 million to rehabilitate its roadways, subway tracks, walkways, bikeways; replace its 628 bridge suspenders; and restore its Arch and Colonnade. The project is scheduled for completion in 2013.

Construction

Barricades left over from New Year’s Eve

Views of the East River draw the eye across the water and over to the adjacent bridges. Ongoing construction means the rules for the walk- and bike-ways have been relaxed (they ate usually separate). Surprisingly, bikers and walkers are very respectful of one another.

Next time you’re in New York, take a stroll across Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn, or vice versa. You won’t be disappointed.

Well, it was a wonderful way to see in the New Year – the weather in New York was comfortably chilly, which made for an even more enjoyable night out sans any sign of a cold snap, slush or snow. Relaxing with excellent company over a bountiful dinner against pristine, million dollar views of Manhattan was pure indulgence, as was the endless champagne sipping, midnight strolling and fireworks watching. Welcome twentytwelve!

Such a good start to 2012 was further enhanced by two fellow bloggers, Pleasantries & Pit Bulls and lpphotosblog, who have nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award. It’s an honour to be recognised by such thoughtful and inspiring authors+photographers in this way and I thank them both for giving me this New Year’s present!

As I recently posted on this award, I’d like to dedicate this post to the two blogs as my token of thanks. It is a showcase of images from New York that I have entitled, Turning to a New Year. From the lights of Brooklyn and Manhattan on New Year’s Eve, to the perfect day that became New Year’s Day, the photos provide a night & day glimpse of how New York celebrated from another vantage point (that didn’t include a ball drop). A fellow New Yorker, I hope lpphotosblog will recognise some of the vistas.

Seeing as it is New Year’s Day and I do not have a list of resolutions to share, I’ve interspersed quotes about the present moment in response to the recent post by Pleasantries & Pit Bulls: Resolutions: Friend or Foe?

All this good fortune combined has been a fine way to start off the brand new year and I extend the very best wishes to everyone for 2012. Enjoy!

“There’s no time like the present.” ~ Proverb

Views and drinks at Bubby's in Dumbo, Brooklyn on NYE (2011).

“The meeting of two eternities, the past and future….is precisely the present moment.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

A night time stroll by the Manhattan Bridge with Williamsburg Bridge in background, and Empire State to left.

“People are always asking about the good old days. I say, why don’t you say the good now days?” ~ Robert M. Young

...Past the Manhattan Bridge and into the bright lights of the Brooklyn Bridge.

“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” ~ George Orwell

Off to Brooklyn Heights to watch the fireworks. Moonlit ferry at Statue of Liberty, far left.

“Forever is composed of nows.” ~ Emily Dickinson

The decorated Empire State and Brooklyn Bridge, as seen from Brooklyn Heights.

“The living moment is everything.” ~ D.H. Lawrence

Happy New Year! 12am fireworks

“No yesterdays are ever wasted for those who give themselves to today.” ~ Brendan Francis

Fireworks from afar...

“With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Though clear enough to see their beautiful colours....

“Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” ~ Cherokee Indian Proverb

... that vividly reflected off the water.

“The present is the ever moving shadow that divides yesterday from tomorrow. In that lies hope.” ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Starting off the New Year with a walk over the Manhattan Bridge, New Year's Day (2012)...

“The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post.” ~ L. Thomas Holdcroft

...and witnessing the effects of the past evening's festivities.

“The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

"The sun is shining, the weather is sweet..." Bob Marley.

“Life is all memory except for the one present moment that goes by so quick you can hardly catch it going.” ~ Tennessee Williams

A swift capture through the bridge's grills of a sightseeing ferry -a perfect day for it.

“In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Families gathering by the water's edge (Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges, by day).

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” ~ Buddha

"Jane's Carousel" against the Manhattan Bridge.

“Pick the day. Enjoy it – to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come… The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present – and I don’t want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future.” ~ Audrey Hepburn